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GuitarSite.com Guitar News Weekly Edition #117, November 20, 2000 |
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HIGH A 7-STRING First, make sure you've read last weeks article on this topic:
HIGH A 7 STRING by Alex Gregory Alex writes to GNW readers again this week, with a fascinating tale of guitar innovation & development... I come from a background based on a University degree in Classical composition/orchestration and a Rock'n'Roll heart (check out http://www.nidusprod.com/maestro and http://www.pentasystem.com), with the added bonus of having hung around Allan Holdsworth during my kid-hood years. Because of my academic qualifications I have always had a clear understanding of the specs and functions of almost any musical instrument. Because of my Rock heart I have always loved loud and distorted sounds. Because of my growing up around Holdsworth I have always had decent enough chops to try to adapt Classical violin melodies (my favourite) to Rock. Consequently by 1985/86 I had come to the conclusion that the only way I would have been able to play the music I wanted to play was by having a special 7 STRING ELECTRIC GUITAR. I designed a fully dedicated instrument that my manager took to Gibson early in 1987 and I got straight away an offer, which I passed on to sign to Fender instead. I got signed to Fender in 1987 for the purpose of building and marketing my own signature model: the MAESTRO ALEX GREGORY 7 STRING STRATOCASTER. The idea was to have a "state of the art" Rock'n'Roll 7 string electric guitar with a top A and 24 frets: to be able to play standard guitar chords on the bottom and flash violin melodies (they obviously have far more range than the guitar) from the bottom to the top with 4 full octaves available in the key of A and a few others. Fender changed my design and exhibited 2 instruments I did not like at the January 1988 NAMM SHOW (see DUCHUSSOIR's "Legend of the STRATOCASTER" for pictures). Both 7 Strings had the same design. These instruments had a shorter scale (25") and a reverse headstock to minimize the breakage of the top A string.
They were tuned to the following notes from low to high:
E / A / D / G / B / E / A The gauges (the strings were specially made for me by D'Addario) were: 044 / 034 / 024 / 016 / 011.5 / 009 / 006! Fender made me a special tool, called the "nipple with long witch hair" to feed the unbelievably small top A through the tremolo bridge. After NAMM and many adventures Fender decided to make a new prototype (#3) exactly the way I had originally designed it, i.e.: standard 25 1/2" scale, straight headstock, but with my newly invented system of staggered headmachines which would give less tension to the top A and therefore more strength. The breakage was much less but still there at first. Then D'Addario got a different wire (higher in carbon) and the string got stronger enough to be bendable by a semi-tone or slightly more. We are still talking about an insane 006! By using 007 instead I had no problem to bend the string as much as I wanted, but to balance the 007 on top I would have had to use a standard 010 set which at the time was too heavy for me. The final prototype was perfect (I still have it and it is about to be the subject of a series of full page ads in GUITAR PLAYER, GUITAR ONE, GUITAR WORLD, etc.) and Fender was ready to market it in the summer of 1988 when they ran into financial problems and I was dropped. Other companies made me small offers which I passed on only to be later on ripped off by everybody, despite of the fact 2 patents (titled 7 STRING ELECTRIC GUITAR) were issued to me in the early '90s. Originally the Ibanez 7 String was meant to have a top A but Steve Vai had to go to the low B because of a technical failure. My prototype #3 7 String Stratocaster was used in 1990 to record (with the same set up: tuning and string gauges) a full length amazing REH instructional video which was never released, again for financial reasons. My prototype #3 7 String Stratocaster was also used to record the Neoclassical hit "PAGANINI'S LAST STAND" in 1991, again with the same set up. By 1992 D'Addario told me that they could upgrade the 006 by using a special "rocket engine wire" which would make the string indestructible, only to change their mind, again because of costs. By 1993, in fact, they stopped making me the 006 altogether (the guitar was not being marketed) and I switched to 007 and Eb tuning, only to find out that the wire of the 007 was now weaker than it was in the 80's. My 7 STRING STRAT is currently tuned to the following notes, from lowest to highest: Eb / Ab / Db / Gb / Bb / Eb / Ab With the following D'Addario string gauges: XSG 048 / XSG 037 / XSG 027 / PL 018 / PL 013 / PL 010 / PL 007. The top A(b) can be bent slightly more than a semitone thanks to the special headmachines but it could easily be as good as it was in the '80s if demand was there, i.e.: it could be fully bend-able even at A=440. I only use the guitar for special sessions, and the rest of the time is in the bank, being truly the HOLY GRAIL of all 7 STRING ELECTRIC GUITARS. In 1990 I had a deal with Gibson for CHET ATKINS style 7 Strings and I designed the first 8 STRING ELECTRIC GUITARS in history, with a low B and a high A (see pictures on www.nidusprod.com/maestro). At the time I invented the COMPOUND HEADSTOCK for such instruments and got a patent on it in 1993. I recently designed the ultimate LOW B 7 String for B.C. Rich with a COMPOUND HEADSTOCK which can be seen on the www.pentasystem.com web site, but there are no plans for production. An even better LOW B model, with my newly invented 7 WAYS COMPOUND HEASTOCK, will be shortly taken to Fender for consideration. I personally have no further interest in 7 Strings and particularly LOW B ones which make no sense when distorted. I mostly play the lead instrument of the next millennium: the PENTALIN[TM]. My new record "ANOTHER MILLENNIUM?" features my newly invented PENTASYSTEM[TM]. One of the instruments of the PENTASYSTEM[TM] is the CELLOBLASTER[TM], which, if you want a RHYTHM FROM HELL[TM] bottom, totally blows away the low B 7 String. Tommy Lee, Ryan Shack (Orgy), Limp Bizkit and many others have already agreed by switching from the low B 7 String to my CELLOBLASTER[TM]. I shall be at the January 2001 NAMM SHOW exhibiting my full line of 7 PENTA INSTRUMENTS under the banner of my own company PENTASYSTEM LLC, and we mean business with the most advanced shit you'll ever see in your lifetime. The rip off is over! Article by by Alex Gregory
see also
and last weeks article:
HIGH A 7 STRING by Alex Gregory ...and our 7 String Guy points out that adding strings at either end of a string instrument's range is not a new idea. Lute players experimented with extra strings centuries ago... Why not take a stroll through the guitar museum: http://www.guitarsite.com/history1.htm
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